UPDATE: EC County man said he’s lucky to be alive after fire at his home

UPDATEEau Claire County (WQOW)- An Eau Claire County man said he’s lucky to be alive after his neighbor reported a fire in his home Sunday night.

Rob Fadness the owner of the home at 3718 Alf Avenue said the fire started in the garage, and luckily his neighbor knew his son was living in the basement, so she didn’t hesitate to call 911 when she saw some suspicious flickering.

Fadness said his son woke up to fire officials shining a light into the window and wasn’t sure who it was so he called his dad upstairs to check it out.

"So, I got up to look and to check and see what was going on, and when I got up I started walking down the hallway and I could see the flickering. My initial reaction was that it was like law enforcement lights flashing but as I moved forward the smoke was thick," Fadness said.

Fadness said at that point he turned around and made sure everyone got out of the house.

Firefighters stayed at the home until after 3 a.m.

They said the damage estimate is $85,000. They’re not sure what caused the fire.

Eau Claire County (WQOW) – Firefighters spent several hours fighting a fire in the town of Washington Sunday night into Monday morning.

According to the Eau Claire Fire Department, the fire started in a garage at 3718 Alf Avenue shortly before midnight on Sunday.

Fire officials said when they arrived, they saw a large fire coming from a garage attached to a house. They were able to quickly knock down the blaze.

The garage, kitchen and living rooms received significant damage. The rest of the house received smoke, heat and water damage, according to the fire department.

Today was the warmest day of the month with high temperatures in the low to mid 40s across western Wisconsin. The only other days this month in the 40s were this past Saturday and Sunday. While temperatures will be in the upper 30s near 40 again tomorrow afternoon, it won’t be as nice of a day.